Read Aloud Thursday ::: Owl Moon & Mandy

We've been reading a little bit of this and that of late and thought it time for a Read Aloud Thursday update. Our recent snow has made it perfect weather for lots of reading aloud and we've definitely done more than normal the last few days which has been nice. I've been tweaking our schedule to rearrange when we read-aloud ... aiming for less time at the table while we eat and more time on the couch all together (or at least while little people draw or color and I read). So far (three days of this) it's working better. Anyway, several fun books have captured our attention of late.

I may be the last person to read Jane Yolen's Owl Moon but it is such a cool story. A father and child go for a moonlight snow tramp in search of owls that live in the woods. You have to be very, very quiet when you go looking for owls under and owl moon. By the time they find a giant owl resting above them in a tree, I was a mesmerized as the child in the story by the detailed illustration of the bird and imagining how exciting (and probably a little bit scary!) it would be to see one of these giant birds above. We are reading this book in conjunction with a moon study that we are working on in bits and pieces and while it mentions the moon, I think it's a better fit for a winter-themed book basket which is where our copy will end up.

Right now, our current chapter book is Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards. (Yes, that Julie Andrews). This was a favorite childhood book that I recently remembered and rediscovered and N1 chose this for our first read-aloud of 2011. Mandy discovers an abandoned cottage behind the orphanage that is her home and she is consumed with the desire to fix it up and make herself a little secret hideaway. Unfortunately, as you read the story, you find that Mandy employs a few ways of getting things that she needs for her little home by way of lies and "borrowing" items from the orphanage.

"-And besides, I didn't exactly steal the knife," Mandy told herself. "I really only borrowed it for a while. When I earn enough money I can buy one of my own." And so she justified her actions and felt better. 

We're still in the first section of the book, but we're all eager to find out what happens to Mandy and her little cottage ... and if the choices that she is making are going to work out for her by the end of the story.

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